Published: June 23, 2009BARRINGTON – Jeff Paustian’s first-day finish at the Illinois Junior Amateur Championship tournament was nothing to slouch about.
The Geneva graduate goes into today’s round in a five-way tie at 45th after shooting a 6-above par 77. Still, it wasn’t exactly the kind of finish he was hoping for.
“The last two years I shot a 76 on the first day,” he said, “so it’s a bit disappointing, but I’m certainly not out of it at 77.”
Paustian said the 90-degree heat tired him out earlier than he expected, causing him to bogey on three straight holes on the back nine. But he came around in the last three holes, bringing his score down with a birdie on two of his last three holes.
Paustian hoped he could carry over his later success and turn his score around in round two.
“This tournament is the best of the year,” he said of the Illinois Junior Golf Association event. “It’s it the most fun [and] the most challenging.”
For St. Charles’ Mitch Stuetelberg, his biggest challenge came from Mother Nature.
“As a golfer you usually don’t like the breeze,” he said after his round of 80. “But in this heat?”
Stuetelberg and fellow St. Charles golfer Keegan O’Rahilly agreed the tournament field and the Makray Memorial Golf Club course they played on weren’t pushovers either.
O’Rahilly finished in the early evening with a 79 thanks to a birdie on the 13th hole. Stuetelberg had two birdies, but three double bogeys to inflate his score.
“The greens seemed pretty slow uphill and quick downhill,” he said. “Even more than you’d think. It made putting really difficult.”
Geneva’s Andrew Cisco finished with an 81. All four Tri-Cities golfers will compete today for a top 50 spot overall in hopes of qualifying for the tournament’s final day on Thursday.
Stuetelberg said he had his ambitions set.
“I just want to get in the top 10,” he said. “I set my goals pretty high.”
Whether or not he achieves that goal, he shared some of Paustian’s sentiment on the tournament in general.
“It’s a fun tournament … because you’re playing some of the best golfers in the state,” he said.
For all of Kayla Fujimoto’s accomplishments on the tennis court last season, including a 33-3 high school season and a 5-8 seed at state, one thing was missing from her game.
“I was putting a lot of pressure on myself,” she said. “I think I had to take a step back and remind myself that I love [tennis] and have some fun with it.”
So this summer, with seven United States Tennis Association tournaments planned, the rising Geneva senior says her biggest priority is just to have fun.
And it seems to be showing, according to her coach at Score Tennis and Fitness Club, Barry King.
“For the last two or three months, a lot of players have commented that Kayla is more fun to be around.” he said. “She’s enjoying it more.”
But having fun isn’t just designed to maintain sanity; it’s a key factor in fully utilizing and improving on Fujimoto’s tennis talents.
“I have all my shots,” Fujimoto said. “I just need to execute them. I think I’m in a good place right now. I just need to put it all together.”
“There’s a lot of mental involved with tennis,” King said. “The harder you try, the worse you do sometimes ... As funny as this is going to sound, the more she can enjoy it, the better she’ll be.”
Fujimoto will get her first dose of fun in a USTA Midwest Section District Team Cup this weekend in Indiana, where Fujimoto will play on a team of other Northern Illinois district singles players.
While traveling around the country for USTA events might sound more glamorous than the high school season, Fujimoto said travel tennis and the high school season are not that different.
“You know, a match is a match,” she said, “and a win is a win.”
The busy summer schedule is nothing new for Fujimoto, a Vikings standout since her freshman season.
“That’s what its been like for I don’t know how long,” she said.
But this year, Fujimoto gets something she hasn’t had for years – an actual vacation to Georgia.
“Tournaments have been like vacations,” she said, “because you travel ... but it’ll be nice to just relax and not have to worry about tennis.”
King says the vacation should do Fujimoto some good.
“Most younger players, they just play, play, play,” King said. “It’s tough. So when they make plans, when they can do do something fun, then they know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and I think that helps a lot.”
Fujimoto has also been getting looks from various colleges.
“I’ve talked to a number of coaches already,” King said, “from a couple of Big Ten schools and a Big East school ... I think she’s going to develop and improve even more in college... She’ll be an excellent addition to any team.”
Fujimoto says it’s too early to decide on college just yet. For now, she’s keeping an open mind.
“I’m not looking ahead too far,” she said. “My options are pretty open. I don’t want to get ahead of myself.”BARTLETT – One double bogey was all it took to keep Geneva’s Jeff Paustian from taking home a plaque at the senior boys division of an Illinois Junior Golf Association Regional Tournament.
The recent Geneva graduate ended the day at Bartlett Hills on Monday in a three-way tie for third place with Sam Schmalz of Hampshire and Schaumburg’s Kenny Wienckowski, each shooting 74.
First place went to Barrington’s Brad Beutler with a 1-over par 72, while Stefan Grochowski of Naperville went home with runner-up honors at 73.
Paustian came out strong early in his round, taking the course’s back nine first and earning three birdies. But things started to get a little hairy on No. 8 – his 17th hole of the day.
“I started to get pretty tired,” he said, “and I just made a stupid move and bad shot.”
The mistake cost him a double bogey, but he said he’s trying to not let the bad hole get him down.
“I realized that I just have to stay positive all the way through,” he said.
It’s a lesson he says he can take to Augustana College, where he’ll be attending and playing golf in the fall.
“Because I graduated high school,” he said, “these tournaments are kind of like a glory run for me before college.”
Four St. Charles players also competed in the division, with Jonathan Woods topping them at 80, a score that tied him for 13th place with Lombard’s Jacob Waas.
For Woods, a particularly unforgiving 12th hole sealed his fate, as he scored a quadruple bogey on the par-4 hole.
“That 12th hole killed me,” he said. “It’s so tight and you just have to hit the fairway.”
Still, he felt like he had an overall “decent day,” saying that summer was the time to build upon his skills and start taking steps in the right direction.
“When you play in summer,” he said, “it’s so laid back. All you can do is be aggressive out there and just have fun.”
St. Charles’ Nick Maze finished with an 81, good for a three-way tie for 15th, while Cameron Verisario shot 83 and Keegan O’Rahilly shot 85.
“It was good to get the competitive experience,” Verisario said of the summer tournament. “You try harder.”
